Uruk
Uruks (or Orcs) are the most commonplace enemy serving the Dark Powers in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. They are a race of sentient beings bred by Morgoth during the time of the Great Darkness. The Dark Lord Sauron also bred them, and later the wizard Saruman, as they often used them as soldiers and henchmen and sent them out to do various evil deeds across Middle-earth. History Early Tolkien never mentioned any female Uruks, but in The Silmarillion he wrote that Uruks had life, and multiplied similarly to Men and other races. Melkor created Uruks by breeding Elves he had captured and corrupted through torturing and mutilating them. In The Lord of the Rings, however, the Ent Treebeard tells the Hobbits Merry and Pippin that Uruks were an attempt by Morgoth to copy the Elves. However, Treebeard's account may have been his understanding of it, as it contradicts Tolkien's writings in The Silmarillion Uruks were highly dependent of Sauron in multiple ways. When Melkor was defeated, the Uruks were confused and were easily scattered by their enemies, after which they went into hiding in the Misty Mountains, showing the dependence of Uruk on the Dark Lord. Only when Sauron regained power did the Uruk become a considerable threat to Middle-earth. Many Uruks, as well as other servants of Melkor, lived in the deep caves and tunnels of the fortresses of Utumno and Angband. They reproduced and spread throughout the entirety of northern Middle-earth. For many centuries the Uruks were a mere minor problem, until Morgoth returned and took charge of the Uruks, using them in the First Battle of Beleriand. Behind the Scenes While creating the Uruks, Monolith wanted to avoid fantasy clichés, and aimed to create realistic Uruks that are more interesting and complex than the typical fantasy archetype. Uruks in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor aren't the typical highly aggressive, unintelligent creatures they are often portrayed as, but are instead what human beings become when they are driven by fear, domination and power. Monolith draws a comparison with the Great War, where the situation of soldiers in the trenches are similar to those of the Uruks under Sauron's control. The Uruks are pushed to an extreme, to the point where their society is ruled by power and fighting, a society where every Uruk wants to prove their dominance. This allows Monolith to push the personalities of the Uruks to the extreme, which aids in making the Uruks interesting and memorable villains, while also creating a dynamic sandbox environment. Monolith drew inspiration from various movies, including Tarantino's movies, where the characters are cranked up and taken to an extreme. A common preconception of Uruks in The Lord of the Rings is that they are highly unintelligent. While there's only six lines of Uruk dialogue in the entirety of The Lord of the Rings, these lines do show a sense of morality and convictions, but the Uruks do not live by these: they always take the path that gains them the most glory on the short term.Fallen Fantasy - The Orcs of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Notable Uruks *Orthog Troll Slayer: A great hulking brute of an orc and a powerful warlord, Orthog is a fearsome fighter as his name suggests, as few orcs can boast of slaying a troll. Orthog wields two cruedly made scythe like blades. His henchman include Ratbag the Meat Hoarder, an orc slaver. *Azdun Sword Master: An Uruk captain located in Durthang West who is angry at the lack of violence there. He has no master and judging from his name has considerable skill with a blade. *Ronk the Bitter: A pale orc dwelling in the Barrows of Udun, Ronk is bored with the lack of violence in his area of command. He has no master. *Brogg the Twin: A large fearsome looking Uruk who serves as a henchman and bodyguard to Mogg the Other Twin, Brogg has a hatred of another, unknown orc. Location unknown. *Gorfel Jaws: A heavily armoured, brutal orc who thirsts for blood constantly, Gorfel resides in the Southern Udun Pass. He has no master. *Ghûra the Immovable: A skilled archer, Ghura is always looking for ways to gain favour with Lord Sauron, and is eager to obey his every whim. He serves Gundza the Crazy in West Garrison. *Shakaa Plague-Bringer: A malicious Uruk who revels in bringing pain upon others, Shakaa is always looking for new ways to torture his slaves. His master is Zaathra the Surgeon. *Horza Who Flees: A coward by nature, Horza has only lived as long as he has because of his tendency to run from the slightest hint of danger. He is frustrated at his futile attempts to impress the Black Captain. He serves Hoshu the Poet. * paarsh scar-artist: a uruk seen while tallion is Dominating ratbag, appears to br lower in rank than ratbag. * Ghaam deathbringer: a orc that appears while tallion is dominating ratbag, appears to be bit shorter and has pale/olive green looking skin. * hura the screamer: a lowly uruk in orthog's chain of command, can be seen when tallion is dominating ratbag. * Borgu halfling-lover: a blue skinned uruk in orthog's chain of command, appears to be weilding two axes and can be seen when tallion is dominating ratbag. Seems to either enjoy killing or eating hobbits. * olrak blood-lover: a high ranking orc that seems to be on the same tier as ratbag. Can be seen when tallion is dominating ratbag. * Ukram the merciful: though the "merciful" part might be a lie due to the nature of orcs, this uruk can be seen next to ratbag on the chain of command when tallion is fominating ratbag. * Thakrak the runt: a uruk that is seen when tallion is dominating ratbag, he is higher in rank apparently. Trivia *Uruks were bred by Melkor (Morgoth) from corrupted, tortured and mutilated elves that may also have been forced to breed with other unnatural abominations in the dominion of the Dark Powers. *The word goblin, as used by Tolkien is merely another word for Uruk, although in popular culture goblin is often used by readers of Tolkien's works to refer to the smaller breeds of Uruks. *Uruks often fought alongside large armoured trolls in their battles, especially during the last days of the War of the Ring. These Olog-hai were a fierce and more violent breed of Trolls. *Uruk is the Black Speech word for Orc. *Christopher Tolkien describes Uruk as the truncation for Uruk-Hai and can be used interchangeably. Uruk is to man as Uruk-Hai is to man-kind. Gallery Uruk 1.png Uruk 2.png Uruk 3.png Uruk 4.png References de:Uruk Category:Inhabitants * Category:Enemies Category:Races